Dispenser for rolled sheet material



Oct. 5, 1948. A} W TEL Y 2,450,496

DISPENSER FOR ROLLED SHEET MATERIAL Filed Feb. 18, 1946 INVENTOR I ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 5, 1948 Arlie E.: Whiteley, Los Angelesrcalif .assignor-of one-half to Joseph John: Gapitan;,East, Los

Angeles, Calif.

Application. February 18, 1'94'6',' Serial lulo..648';361v

4Claims. (Cl.=242-.55l4);

Myinvention relates to a holder and dispenser for rolled sheet material and has particular reference to a device which finds particular utility when employed to dispense rolled surgical adhesive tape.

Prior to myinvention there have been developeda-number of'dispensers intended to facilitate the dispensing of adhesive tape for use by physicians and surgeons in the dressing of wounds and the like. One such prior device is described in'the (iillanders et al. Patent 2,295,648. These devices usually comprise a support for holding one or morerolls'of adhesive tape. together with a slotted .guideway a-cross which the issuing end of the tape may be drawn. Some form of cuttingmeans is Provided for'cutting the issuin end at the slotted guideway;

Certalndisadvantages attend the use of the prior dispensers of the class described. For example, :in most constructions the cutter was not readily removable from therest of the apparatus and in'those cases in which the cutter was made removable, it was not of such form as to permit ready replacement. Furthermore, the cutting op- I erationrwasgenerally performed'by a cutting edge mounted in afixed position such that the cutting edge was perpendicular to the plane of thematerial to be severed. As a, result there was a tendency for the material to Wad up in front of fihEEG'LlttBIr-SO that it wasseldom possible to obtain the tree clean cut which was desired. I

Itv isqtherefore an object of my invention to provide anholderjand dispenser for rolled sheet material which overcomes the: above noted disadvantages byincluding a means for removabiy supportinga cutting bladeso that the same may be. readily renewed when dulled.

It is also an'object of my invention -to provide a. dispenser of the characterdescribed in the preceding. paragraph which includes'a cutter mounting means:adaptedparticularly to the use of the well knowndouble-edge safety-razor blade;

Itliszan additional object of my invention to providera dispenser of the character set forth hereinbefore in wh'ichvthe bladeis mounted for oscillating-movement to present an inclined cut- .tinaedgeto the material to be severed.

Other objects" and. advantages of my invention will be apparent from a study of the following specifications; read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Eigrl is awperspective view illustrating the generaljorm and appearance of'the preferred embodimentpf my invention; I V

2 13.18.11 end elevationai view-oithe device shown'in-Figz-l Wlth'some partsbroken away and others-shown in-section; and i Fig. 3-is a fragmentary sectional viewtaken substantially along-th'e-line III-III of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings. I 'have illustrated in Fig. 1 the preferred embodiment of my-invention as comprising aback'plate l to the loweredgeof which is attached "by any suitable meansa horizontally extending shelf port-ion- 2. Upon the back plate I I provide means for supporting a plurality of spools of surgical adhesive plaster as, for example, the spools shown-at 3, 4 and 5. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of my inventiomeach of the spools-'3' and 4 is mounted upon a cylindrical core member 6 which may be formed of wood or other suitable material and each of which carriesa pair ofoppositel'y directed pivot members suchas shown at T in .Fig. 1. These pivot members-are adapted to be received inhook-shapedstraps Bsecured to th'eback plate I as by means-of-screws 9."

With this arrangement" the spools 3, 4 and 5 may gbe'readily removable from the machine and new spools-replaced therein; it being. only necessaryto move'thecore' member 6 from the removed spool to thenewspool 'and place the new assembly inzthe strap hangers 8.

At the forward edge of. the horizontal shelf 2 I place a pair of rail. members Hlvand ll spaced to define a slot 12' therebetween. The rail members; are provided with plane upper surfaces I3 which are aligned and disposed at an angle exceeding the. plane, substantially through. the center of rotation of'the spools 3J4 and 5 asmay be best seen in Fig. 2.

I have found that when tape isremovedfrom a spoolxby drawingpn the issuingend thereof, the adhesive attachment ofthe outer convolution tothe layers'beneath causes. thepoint of separation ,of" the issuing end" from the. body of the, roll land. I l as is represented by the dotted lines. l5

inFig: 3. When, the desired length of tape has beenwithdrawn, the end maybe movedldownwardly to bring the tape to the solidlli'ne position shown-in Fig; 2.'

The" under surface of" the tape and the upper surface of the guide bars in and II are substantially parallel due to the angular disposition of the guide bars l and II. By moving the tape downwardly to bring the adhesive underside thereof into contact with the upper surface of the guide bars, the tape is caused to securely adhere to the guide bars, whereby the tape may be readily severed without the tape shifting during the cutting operation. I have shown in the drawings the angular disposition of the guide rails l0 and II as being accomplished by providing a downwardly inclined portion 16 on the forward edge of the shelf 2. It will be understood, however, that the shelf may be made straightif desired and the guide bars mounted at the desired angle by any suitable means as, for example, by means of a wedge-shaped spacer memberplaced between the guide bar and the upper surface of the shelf. Also, as is best shown in Fig. 2, because of the considerable force required to withdraw the tape, the roll supporting brackets 8 are preferably angularly disposed to place these brackets in direct tension during the'withdrawing operation, thereby avoiding the bending or springing of the brackets.

The above mentioned severing operation is performedby a cutter I! which may take the form of a conventional double-edged safety razor blade. The blade I! is mounted in a carriage indicated generally at I8 which is mounted for movement end of which is mounted, as by means of a pivot.

member 2|, a roller 22 adapted to rest upon and roll along the forward guide bar I I.

The rear end of the member I3 is terminated in a plate member 23 to which are rotatably secured four rollers 24, the rollers 24 being disposed in pairs on opposite sides of an upper rail 25, the rail 25 being secured at its ends to the back plate l. The rollers 24 preferably each comprise a cylinder mounted upon the plate member 23 for rotation as by means of a pivot member 26 secured as by riveting or other suitable means to the plate member 23. The rollers 24 preferably include a flange portion 21 adapted to engage the lower edge of the guide rail 25.

To the rear face of the downwardly depending portion 20 of the carriage 8 there is attached, as by means of screws 28, an offset member 29, the inner surface of which isspaced from the rear surface of the portion 20 to define a slot 30 within which the cutter member or razor blade I! is placed.

The razor blade. I! is preferably of the conventional double-edged safety, razor blade type characterized by being apertured near each end thereof as shown at 3| and 32 in Fig. 3. The razor blade 32 is retained within-the slot 30 by means of a spring-pressed pin 33 which ispassed through the upper aperture 32 to be received within an aperture 34 formed in the depending portion 20 of the carriage.

The plunger 33 is slidably mounted within a of the spring 36 a distance sufficient to remove the pin 34 from the aperture 32 in the cutter member, thus releasing the cutter member and allowing the same to be inverted or replaced by a new member.

The pin 33 preferably makes a relatively loose fit with the aperture 32 so that the blade I! will be freely supported for pivotal movement in the plane of the slot 30. Preferably this pivotal movement is limited as by means of stop means 40 and 4| extended across the slot 30 in the position shown in Fig. 3 and functioning to limit the pivotal movemest of the blade to corresponding angular positions such as the one angular position illustrated in Fig. 3. Attention is directed particularly to the fact that in the limiting position, the cutting edge of the blade is disposed substantially in line with or slightly precedes the point of contact of the roller 22 with the rail II.

The pivotal mounting of the blade permits the carriage to be moved in either direction for severing of the Withdrawn length of adhesive tape. Regardless of the direction of movement the blade is pivotally moved by engagement of the cutting edge with the material to a position extending the cutting edge at an angle to the plane of the sheet material, thus providing an efficient shearing action insuring a free and easy cutting of the sheet material or adhesive tape. During the cutting action a sliding of the tape along the length of the guideway in response to the pressure exerted thereon by the cutting member is prevented by reason of the adhesive attachment of the tape to the upper surface of the guideway. I

It will be seen that after severing, the severed length may be readily removed for use and that the remainder of the withdrawn length remains adhering to the guide rail ID as is illustrated by the length bearing reference character 42 in Fig. 1 so that the same may be readily picked up for the purpose of withdrawing additional material.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to any of the details of construction shown or described herein, except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a dispenser for rolled sheet material including means for supporting a roll of said material and having a slotted guideway across which the end ,of said material issuing from said roll may be drawn,.the combination of :-a carriage mounted for movement along said guideway, said carriage having formed therein a slot aligned with the slot in said guideway; an apertured cutter in said carriage slot; a pivot on said carriage intersecting said slot and passing through the aperture in said cutter to ipivotally mount said cutter in said slot; and stop means in said slot disposed on opposite sides of said cutter to limit the extent of pivotal movement of said) cutter.

2. In a dispenser for rolled sheet material including means for supporting a roll of said mate- .rial and having a slotted guideway across which cutter in saidslot; stopimean's in said slot disposed on opposite sides of said cutter to limit the extent of pivotal movement of said cutter; and means removably securing said pivot to said carriage, whereby removal of said pivot frees said cutter for removal from said slot.

3. In a dispenser for rolled sheet material including means for supporting a roll of said material and having a slotted guideway across which the end of said material issuing from said roll.

may be drawn, the combination of: a carriage mounted for movement along said guideway, said carriage having formed therein a slot aligned with the slot in said guideway; a double-edged apertured safety razor blade in said carriage slot; a pivot on said carriage intersecting said slot and passing through the aperture in said blade to pivotally mount said blade in said slot; and stop means in said slot disposed on opposite sides of said blade to limit the extent of the pivotal movement of said blade.

4. In a dispenser for rolled sheet material including means for supporting a roll of said material and having a slotted guideway across which the end of said material issuing from said roll may be drawn, the combination of: a carriage 6 mounted for movement along said guideway, said carriage having formed therein a slot aligned with the slot in said guideway; a double-edged apertured safety razor blade in said carriage slot; a pivot on said carriage intersecting said slot and normally passing through the aperture in said blade to pivotally mount said blade in said slot; means mounting said pivot for axial movement to a retracted position removed from said aperture; and spring means normally urging said pivot to said normal position.

ARLIE E. WHITELEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 845,658 Loewenberg Feb. 26, 1907 1,826,135 Johnson Oct. 6, 1931 2,250,774 'Piller July 29, 1941 2,295,648 Gillanders et al. Sept. 15, 1942 2,344,372 Sikstrom Mar. 14, 1944 2,364,461 Madsen Dec. 5, 1944 

